Collapsing Skyscrapers

9-11 "Changed Everything", Including the Laws of Physics

Within 10 seconds of the onset of its destruction --
when none of the rubble had yet reached the ground --
most of the South Tower was already reduced to dust and shredded steel.

When
WTC 2 disintegrated
into an exploding cloud of dust,
obliterating 1000 vertical feet of intact structure
from top to bottom almost as quickly as a rock would fall the distance,
the news anchors were ready with a word to describe the phenomenon:
collapse.
To wit -- the Towers fell down and crushed themselves.
Never mind that no steel-framed skyscraper had ever
totally collapsed of its own weight
due to any cause or combination of causes --
be they bombings, severe fires, earthquakes, or hurricanes --
other than controlled demolition.
Never mind that the
precipitous,
explosive,
and
symmetric
disintegration of the Tower
didn't look anything like such a building would look
if it could collapse due to collision- and fire-induced structural failure.
The
shock of the novelty
of the attack itself could be relied on
to suspend the disbelief of nearly everyone watching.
The CBS anchor describing the
South Tower collapse footage
recorded just a few minutes earlier
seems incredulous at the speed and completeness of the collapse
but unquestioningly blames gravity for the destruction.

I mean when you look at it the building has collapsed,
that Tower just came down.

By the time
WTC 1 disintegrated,
27 minutes after WTC 2 did,
the collapse of skyscrapers hit by planes had become inevitable.
This was reinforced by the repeated reference to the 767-200s
as "jumbo jets" --
even though they are less than half the size of a 747 --
and repeated assertions that no one had ever anticipated
fuel-laden jets crashing into buildings --
when in fact the building designers had contemplated
just that scenario.

Later that day not even plane impacts were necessary to level skyscrapers --
as simply being in the vicinity of the World Trade Center
was sufficient to
level Building 7.